A silent goodbye
by JupiterGodess
Summary: When the golden lion perishes, nobody hears the eagle cry.


A silent goodbye

The Fifth House lay terribly silent and empty. Slowly, Marin walked through the all too familiar hallways, letting her fingers glide across the stone walls. Her heart ached with every beat, and a crushing grief weighed on her soul.

,Aiolia…'

When she reached the Leo temple's main hall, she walked to the nearest lion statue that decorated it, and slumped against it. Her eyes were burning. And despite her efforts, a tear slid down her cheek and out from under her mask.

„Aiolia… why?"

The Gold Saint's image flashed in front of Marin's eyes. Light brown, almost golden curls framing his face. Deep blue eyes. Bronze skin. And a heart as big and strong as the sun.

However, his footsteps were never again going to echo through these hallways, his laughter never again going to ring between these stones.

Had it really been only two days since then…?

Marin sat aboard an airplane and looked outside. Beneath her, the vast blue expanse of the ocean stretched. She felt almost impatient, something she was not usually prone to. But she was filled with an unusual sense of urge. She knew that the five valiant Bronze Saints and a handful of Gold Saints were fighting in Hades right now. She had to hurry for Seiya's sake, or it could be too late. She had finally found the final lead to where his missing sister Seika was. Now the Silver Saint was returning to Greece, where Seika was. Incredibly, she had been so close all along – nowhere else than in Rodorio Village.

This was why she had chosen this mode of transportation. Usually, she travelled by land or sea, but never by air, despite her constellation being the Eagle. But time was running low. So she sat in this airplane, for once dressed in civilian clothes and without her mask on.

Suddenly, she cherked upright. An immense energy touched her Cosmos, one she recognised to her utter astonishment as the combined power of twelve Gold Saints. Flickers of information flashered through her mind. She learned that one last barrier, the Wall of Laments stood in the way of reaching Athena. And that the goddess somehow had brought all the fallen Gold Saints back to life. Even Aiolos, who had been killed thirteen years ago while protecting Athena. She had brought them back to… to…

To do what?

The answer came a moment later. Marin's eyes widened in shock as she felt the combined energies rise to immeasurable height – and then vanish. Gone instantly like a candle flame snuffed out.

,N-no…'

The Eagle Saint struggled immensely to not make any sound. She could, however, not keep the tears rising to her eyes. As much as she searched, she could not sense any of those twelve golden Cosmos' anymore. They were gone, using all their strenght to tear down the Wall of Laments.

,A-Aiolia…'

Her heart cramped as painfully as never before. Luckily, nobody else sat in her row, so nobody saw her tears or how she clenched and bared her teeth in pain.

He was gone. For good.

Tears began to stream again as Marin remembered that painful moment she had felt Aiolia perish. Yes, she was a Silver Saint, a warrior. Yes, she knew that being a warrior was dangerous, and that the war against Hades in particular was going to take its blood toll. However… Aiolia had always been so strong, so unyielding. Somehow, probably naïvely, she had imagined him to survive until the end. How foolish that had been.

Sanctuary was never going to be the same for her. No matter that Athena and the Bronze Saints were going to rebuild it. Without Aiolia, it would always feel empty to Marin.

An image flashed in front of her eyes, a memory from a few years back. Aiolia, clad in his Gold Cloth, smiling as brightly as the sun at her. He had looked like the incarnation of Apollo himself. And he had had a heart as golden as his armor. When everyone else had antagonised her, he had been the only one who had been kind to her, a foreigner, from the very start.

At those bittersweet memories, a sob escaped her, despite her best efforts to supress it.

Here, in this temple that had been his home, his presence still lingered, as if he had never gone. It covered Marin like a warming blanket; comforting, reassuring, yet driving the knife of loss deeper into her heart at the same time.

„A-Aiolia… I miss you so much…"

Aside from that, no sound escaped her lips. The tears kept flowing silently as the Eagle mourned the Lion's passing.

Author's note: Here I give you a more sad story of Aiolia and Marin. I wrote it because I thought this was sorely missing in the anime. I bet all of you wondered as well how Marin handled Aiolia's death in front of the Wailing Wall. Here is my take on it.

Apollo: god of sun, healing, oracles, arts (leader of the muses), twin to Artemis


End file.
